3 John 1:1 The elder unto the wellbeloved
Gaius, who I love in truth
At
first reading, a man calling himself “the elder” seems quite pretentious. However,
when I continued to look at this scripture it occurred to me that the words were
not those of an ego driven man but those of a man who knew who he was, his
position in the scheme of things and the responsibility that came with that
position. At the point he wrote the letter, he was probably old and nearer the
end of his life than near the beginning of his ministry. He could have called
himself an apostle, the one whom Jesus loved the most when he was alive,
anything. However he chose to refer to himself as an elder. This doesn’t even
begin to describe who he was to the church and what he had done. By this time
he and Peter had healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. He had done many
things by this time although he had not received the revelations detailed in
the book of Revelations. He had seen many things, he had experience. He knew
the power there is in the name of Jesus.
A
man came to Israel and said he was the Son of God. He impacted the life of a
dozen men, eleven of whom went on to do great works in his name. People were
impacted by the lives of these eleven men such that men in exponential amounts
began to follow the Jesus that these men preached. These men made such an
impact on the world that in one of the places where they went to, they were
described as the people who were turning the world upside down. These were men
who were beaten, went to jail, suffered all kinds of deprivation yet they never
lost sight of what they were, men and women who had been privileged enough to
be called and chosen by God for his purpose. Nothing was too much for them to
suffer to bring glory and honour to God. Some of them were killed for the sake
of the message they proclaimed.
In
today’s era of social media and being concerned about what people think of us, the
question I ask of myself is: what am I ready to give up to serve and honour
Jesus? What do I think is too much to do for God? What am I ready to suffer for
Christ? The apostles of old were totally aware of whom they were in Christ.
Paul understood that his identity was to be found not in any thing he had achieved
but his identity was to be found in a God who loved him enough to send Christ
to die for him. I believe the there was a direct proportional relationship between
the revelation these man had of God to
the understanding of who they were in him which was directly proportional to
the exploits they did in his name.
Every
day, I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not really about me, it’s about
him and his purpose. Until I let go and stop struggling to find relevance for
myself and realise that it’s about what he wants me to become, I will never
truly find myself in him. I will continually struggle to live this life that he
has given me. But like Paul, every day I press on that I may be found in him.
Every day, I hope to grow in the knowledge in of God that I might truly fulfil
the reason for the call on my life knowing that he who loves me and called me
is cheering me on.
JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a
division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can
follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.
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